the last of the australians

As I write to you I have watched 11 episodes of The Last of the Australians, and am on to my 12th. In between watching the show I am reading of Alan Seymour's 1967 novel of his play The One Day of the Year on which The Last of the Australians is ostensibly, ostensibly mind you, based. To be honest I'm not 100% sure how this worked i.e. was Terry Stapleton - who played the character of Hughie in the original play when it opened in 1958 - actually inspired by these characters to adapt them into a sitcom (albeit with different names - Hughie became Gary and Alf* became Ted)? Or was this some kind of sleight of hand whereby he and Crawfords could say that the Last of the Australians was no way an imitation of Till Death Us Do Part (1968+) because it was based on something from 1958?

It's an interesting show to watch but not always enjoyable. Or even often enjoyable. It does have all the classic Crawfords people in it, not just Keith Eden and Maurie Fields and Terry Norris but also Noni Hazlehurst, Jacki Weaver and Vanessa Leigh. Of the main cast, of course Alwyn Kurts, who no-one had ever imagined could possibly be a comic actor, and Rosie Sturgess who was famous for her time with Graham Kennedy in particular so she had form as a comedian. Richard Hibberd was Gary in the first season, Stephen Thomas in the second (Hibberd quit the biz to join the Hare Krishnas). 

Anyway, I'm plouging on because this is my job now. I'll let you know if anything nice happens. 

*Clearly they couldn't have kept the name Alf for the father character because of Alf Garnett. I suppose 'Hughie' became 'Gary' just in the general update to the 1970s. 

other frankston (yesterday)

So since we were in Frankston North we thought, well, why not go to Frankston. Maybe we'll stumble on Graham Kennedy's house. I don't actually know where that is/was, so it would be a stumble. But also, we thought, maybe we'll see some interesting places. We did. This was the most interesting, and it doesn't look like it's got long to live. I hope it's not Graham Kennedy's house. Anyway, as you can see...

This site might one day soon be this delightful and unique proposition. 

We were up high on the cliffs just south of Frankston proper, so we went and sat down and looked at the sea for a short time. And the sky. 

And a bird (or two)

Then we went past this house, which had a really high wall which made me think, it must be interesting. So I took a picture of it over the wall, reasoning that, were I to be a very tall person, I would have been able to look over anyway. 

Then we went down a dirt road. This was one of those roads you first think, well, that's got to be a boring road to nothing because it's an unmade, shabby thing. Then you think wait a minute... perhaps that's just what they want me to think. It was! I mean, it was what they wanted me to think. Because it did have some really interesting houses in it, like this one, which I wasn't really able to capture that well but hopefully you get a sense of it. 

Similarly, this one was better than my picture suggests. 

And again... 

Then we went into real Frankston and I made Perry stay in the car while I had quick lunch. This was what they gave me to mark my table when I placed my order. It's good isn't it. I should have stolen it. 

But no, we left Frankston every bit as honest as when we went there. Must go back soon, it was really good. 

Update a couple of days later: did a bit of research and it appears that GK's house is no longer there, demolished long ago, but we were in very much the right part of Olivers Hill so we intuited it, definitely. 

all the great men were in the video age - 1

 

the ric melbourne crazy album

Never let anyone tell you that there was ever any such thing as the good old days. Wow, the world is horrible enough now, but it was twice as horrible even in my lifetime. Thrice maybe. This is so extraordinarily - I think the best word is 'lame' - that I do think it would be funnier if you didn't understand English. Truly the only funny thing - and I am using the term broadly - is in one sketch where a horse puts its head through the door at various punchlines and neighs, for no reason.* Which reminds me, happy birthday Phar Lap.

By the way I guess you had to be there, but I was, and I am pretty sure this wasn't funny then, then again, I still think back to when Graham** Kennedy was a regular guest on some show... on 3LO I think... where they'd regularly play Don McLean's 'Wonderful Baby', a song I still love, and at the end Kennedy would make bird noises. And when I think back to that, I laugh. No accounting for anything, including taste.

* Though there is also a song sung by a whinger which I kind of enjoyed though I didn't really think it was funny.

** Update 6 July 2023 sorry about the misspelling of Graham Kennedy's name and the fact that this error was allowed to remain for almost seven years. 

graham kennedy

Just finishing up reading Graeme Blundell's very fine biography of Graham Kennedy. Hot on the heels of the excellent more recent bio of Gordon Barton (not by Blundell btw). Are all media celebrity successes completely bizarre? And where on earth does this come from, it's extraordinary: